Today was Eli’s fourth birthday. Last night I sat down with him to ask him a few very important questions. (which he didn’t enjoy all that much)

What’s your name? Eli Harrison Fletcher Crunch

Hi Eli.

Hi

How are you? Good.

What’s tomorrow? Um, my birthday.

How old will you be? FOUR.

Are you excited? Yeah.

Why? Cause I es-cited I gonna be four, Mom.

What are we going to do tomorrow? Eat green peppers and nachos and hot dogs and drinks some milk and juice boxes and it will be a colorful day on my birthday. (mom, that’s super long.)

What kind of birthday party are you going to have? A rainbow.

Why did you choose rainbow? Cause I needed to because I didn’t have a rainbow.

Who’s your best friend? Jake and Noah and TreyB

Who are your friends? Jack, Dane and Aubrey and Noah and Addison and Colin and Mommy

What’s your favorite color? The rainbow

Do you have a color you like the best? Yes, it’s orange and green.

What’s your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese and I like to drink some apple juice

Do you like vegetables? Um, yeah, um, I like cooked carrots and salad and kale and I like green peppers and pineapple and anything you like to give me. (I want to be gone now, Mom, that’s all you need to do.)

What do you want for your birthday? Doggie Doo, flowers and bouncy houses and a soccer ball.

How much do you love Clara? Um, a lot.

What about Anna? A lot.

What about Noah? a lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.

What do you love about your Mom? Cause um, um, I like it when her gives me uppy and cause you let me draw.

What do you love about your Dad? Cause he lets me draw, too.

How much do you love your Mom? SO MUCH.I need some of your water, k? (takes a drink) It’s really cold in my mouth now.

What do you want to be when you’re older? Um, a daddy.

You are going to be a great daddy. Yeah. I have to go now.

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He’s got things to do and people to see, okay? We had an amazing day celebrating this sweet boy. Every morning I look forward to seeing his sweet face and every night I kiss his cheeks and thank God he’s my son. He is such a blessing in our lives. Oh and Anna and Noah slept in his room last night so they could see him in the morning when he woke up and they slept in his room tonight, too. I love that Eli’s older siblings know how to make a day extra special.

Today is Anna’s birthday. This year is definitely one of those years where I reflect on the fact that this sweet little being made me a mom ELEVEN years ago. On the day she was born, it wasn’t at all how I had dreamed it would be. I wasn’t able to hold her until she was five days old, I felt her soft, warm skin for the first time when she was three days old. I woke up after surgery (having no idea that they were going to put me to sleep) to find out that she was on a ventilator. But as the hours passed, we watched her health improve and after just a week in the NICU, we were home with her in our arms. Like I said, how it all happened just didn’t matter, what mattered was that she was happy and healthy and in our arms.

The same is true today.

Last night I sat down with her for her annual birthday interview and asked her some very important questions.

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Hi Anna. Hi

What’s tomorrow? My birthday.

You’re turning ten? NO. I’m turning 11.

How do you feeling about that? Awesome, because I like presents.

Do you have any special plans? We are having a family birthday party tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night I get to choose dinner.

What do you plan to choose for dinner? A mexican bar. Like taco salad and tacos.

Did you ask for anything specific for your birthday? Rubber bands for bracelets, clothes, barbies, a new bike.

Do you like being the oldest? Not always.

Why not all the time? Because I have to go to school. HARD school.

Aren’t you a super student? No.

hmmm…weren’t you just chosen by your teachers as student of the month? Yes.

And didn’t you just make prinipal’s honor roll for a second grading period in a row? Yes.

So what’s not to like? Because it’s hard.

Do you love your siblings? Yes. What do you love about them? Noah, he’s funny. Eli he plays with me. Clara, she hugs me.

Do you love her hugs? Yes. I like how she says mmmm, while she hugs me.

What’s your favorite thing that has happened when you were ten? Probably getting my iPod and starting gymnastics.

What’s your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese

Your favorite dessert? Cake with lots of frosting

Your favorite vegetable? Peas.

Your favorite fruit? Apples

Any specific kind? I love Jazz and fuji apples.

What’s your favorite color? Blue, green or aqua.

What do you love about your mom? She’s pretty and nice and awesome and she helps me.

What do you love about your Dad? He’s nice and funny and awesome and he lets me buy gum at the store.

Hmm…I should probably talk to him about that? What? No!

Do you feel like you’re going to be 11? No.

How old do you feel? 45.

Are you enjoying having a new dog? Your first real pet ever? Yes.

Tell me why? Because she’s cute and tiny and she’s fun to play with sometimes. And she’s cute when she’s sleeping.

Who is your favorite meteorologist? Reed Timmer, he’s also a storm chaser.

If you could do ANYTHING for your birthday tomorrow, what would you do? I would let Jenna, my cousin come to my party, I would want everyone to come and I could make them bracelets and give everyone hugs.

I’ve been on a blogging hiatus. Not because I don’t enjoy my blog but simply because I just didn’t have any time left for it. Noah’s birthday is today – I couldn’t possibly go this year without chatting with him about his birthday. Noah truly is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful and tenderhearted humans I have ever encountered. I love this day and celebrating with an amazing gift he is to all of us.

Last night, we talked about his birthday. Here’s what he had to say about his day and well, his life, in general.

Hi Noah. So, what’s tomorrow? My birthday.

How old will you be? The big 1-0.

Do you feel older or younger than 10? Right now? I feel like I’m going to be turning four.

hmmm…that’s interesting.

This year, A LOT has happened. Can you tell me a few of your favorite things that have happened? I got an iPhone (his Dad’s old phone), I got my own room, we got a dog.

Tell me about the dog? Her name is Harper and she’s white and fluffy like a cloud.

Do you love her? Yes, as much as two million galaxies.

Do you enjoy school? Yes. Because my teacher is the best teacher in the world and my GT teacher is good, too.

What would you like to do when you grow up? That’s though for me to decide, I’m not completely sure. Maybe a teacher, a restaurant owner and a video game maker.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not in school? Play with my friends, play on my iPhone and play on my Wii U.

What about your siblings? Do you like them much? I love them.

Why? I love Eli because he likes to play Minecraft and Wii u with me and he’s a sweet little guy. And I love Clara because she makes me laugh and gives a lot of hugs. and I love Anna because she likes to play with me sometimes. Just sometimes though. I think she’s pretty funny.

What do you love about your Mom? That she makes the best food in the world and shes devoted to keeping her kids safe.

What do you love about your Dad? I love that he likes to play with me and he focuses on things that need to be done.

If you could do anything on your birthday, ANYTHING, what would you do? Go to Hawaii with all of my friends and family.

What’s your favorite season? Either summer or winter.

Why do you like winter? I like it because I love the snow and I love staying inside with my family and bundling up from the snow.

Would you rather spend time grocery shopping or spend the day at home in your PJs? Spend the day in my PJs.

If you had 3 million dollars, what would you do with it? I would by myself an android tablet and my own house, I would give some to my mom and to charity and I would buy a pool and a big giant yard.

Are you excited about getting older? Yes, definitely. I get to be the same age as Anna for five days and I’m FINALLY double digits.

What’s your favorite color? orange

Favorite vegetable? tomatoes

Favorite fruit? grapes

Favorite dessert? ice cream cake

Did you know it may snow a foot tomorrow on your birthday and we wouldn’t be able to go out to dinner? No.

Adam: It’s hard to believe it has been a year since Philip Philips rocked our pajamas off with “Home,” but it has. It feels like it’s been almost that long since our last Idol Chat. Are you ready for this business, baby? I mean Beth?

Adam: Okay, so Kree started it off with a little Sarah McLachlan, minus the sad images of abandoned puppies. More like Sarah McROCKlan, because Kree rocked that puppy. Understated, for once. That really kind of kicked ass. Great way to start for Kree, I say.

It’s interesting to me that you liked it because I felt it was a bit boring and by a bit I mean A LOT. I’m also interested in what the judges have to say about it except not really. Adam, don’t tell anyone I said this but I think Nikki looks pretty tonight. shhh….

Candice is singing “Chasing Pavement.” I love that she has that Jill Scott vibe when she sings, her voice is just incredible but I was not blown away, by any means. Although, her boots? THEY FANCY.

Adam: But I’m not sure they were made for walking. Anyway, I’m just so disappointed that we’re at my floor. I hate to step off this elevator. Its music is oh so pretty. Oh, wait . . . that was Candice? Oh. Hmm. Okay. Also, Mariah. Beyond what, you raving pile of done?

Adam: In the second round, Kree hit us with “All Cried Out,” which I believe is an original song. I won’t comment on the song itself other than to say that it seemed to expose the weaknesses in Kree’s voice, even though I actually liked the way she expressed herself vocally. Other than the whole, you know, pitch thing.

You are a smart, smart fellow. I could not agree more. Maybe her ears were broken? Or maybe OUR ears are broken? Either way. I need ice cream.

Candice is singing “I am beautiful.” I think it’s so unfair to Kree and Candice that the best original song EVER went to Phillip Phillips last year. Too bad for them. I didn’t hate that song but I did not fall in love with it.

Adam: I agree, and I kind of think they should have abandoned the original song category this time based on that premise. Too much to live up to. This was a complete yawner. I guess the performance was fine. I’ve already forgotten it.

On to Kree III. She’s singing a Patty Griffin song, which is always a good choice, even when not in the shower. It was good. Not great. I really really really love the song, and I only really really liked the performance. Still. Very nice. I don’t know if it’s championship-quality, but it was nice.

I agree with you AND Randy. It was very nice and definitely her best performance of the night. But I’m not sure that’s saying too much.

Candice is performing “I Have Nothing,”now here’s a performance that actually grabbed my attention. Even the Coke-inspired stage graphics didn’t annoy me because I enjoyed this performance so much. Well done. Great way to end the show.

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that Blogher is doing a Mother’s Day series and they’re syndicating the letter to Moms I wrote a few weeks back – check it out, along with the others, if you’d like!

And here’s a cutie photo of my babies I took last month. I’m still around, working, being a Mom, taking a photos…

Oh AND I posted on my BFP blog about a labor and almost-delivery that I photographed in the fall.